Distant clusters of galaxies provide a powerful method to study the formation
and evolution of galaxies, and large scale structure of the Universe. However,
the number of known clusters at high ...redshift (z> 0.5) is still very reduced.
As a preparatory work for detailed studies wigh GTC, we are searching for high
redshift clusters in public wide optical surveys. We will complement this with
near IR observations in 4 m telescopes. Here, we present some preliminary
results. In a field of 35 x 35 arcmin^2 we have detected 8 clusters of galaxies
at redshift z> 0.5.
caffeine is an ergogenic aid that still needs to be investigated in women's sports performance.
Eight semi-professional women's volleyball players (height = 1.63 ± 0.08 m; weight = 66.67 ± 4.74 kg) ...voluntarily participated in this study. A randomized crossover design was implemented where players underwent caffeine and placebo conditions. In the caffeine condition, participants consumed 5 mg/kg of caffeine based on their body weight before acute training. The evaluations were performed over two weeks of training. In both conditions, the countermovement jump, repeated jumps for 15 s, and handgrip tests were performed. The change of direction was assessed using the 505 test. Well-being was also assessed with a wellness questionnaire. A repeated measures ANOVA and correlation analysis were performed.
The repeated measures ANOVA revealed a main effect of supplementation (
(1.7) = 8.41,
= 0.02, η2 = 0.54) across the training week on physical performance. Additionally, there was a positive effect on perceived fatigue (
(1.7) = 7.29,
= 0.03, η2 = 0.51).
Caffeine improved performance and fatigue parameters over one week of training. Further research is needed on women, focusing on physical performance and wellbeing, especially during intense periods.
Are the radiation doses we use in interventional procedures appropriate? Cardiologists should be able to answer this question, which is particularly important in pediatric patients. However, the ...answer matters not only to patients but also to the health professionals involved in these procedures. The occupational radiation doses received by health staff are associated with the doses received by patients, and "optimization" (keeping radiation doses to the minimum needed to achieve the clinical objective of the procedures involved) should be managed comprehensively for patients and professionals alike.1 The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recommends using "diagnostic reference levels" (DRLs) to help in the optimization of imaging modalities with ionizing radiation (including interventional procedures).2 DRLs are indicative of "good clinical practice". It is recommended that they be established for specific clinical indications and can be estimated for the local, national, or regional level by using the third quartile of the distribution of the median values of the dose indicators for patients from various centers representative of these clinical practices.2 The term "achievable dose value" has been proposed in the United States for the 50th percentile instead of the third quartile. Although the ICRP has stated that the median could be used as an additional...
The Gulf of California (GC) is an unique large ecosystem characterized by its rich biodiversity, high biological productivity and endemism of marine life. However, as many other large ecosystems ...worldwide, it is subject to diverse anthropogenic pressures (overfishing, climate change, losses of biodiversity and habitats, and pollution). We reviewed over 150 studies dealing with contaminants in water, sediments and representative organisms from the GC, and here we discuss the main issues associated to the presence of metals, metalloids, persistent organic pollutants (POPs, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), brominated diphenyl ethers (deca tri-a) (PBDEs), and several other pesticides), plastics, nutrients and algal blooms. The GC ecosystems have been subject to a wide range of pollution sources. Nevertheless, the pollution levels remain relatively low to moderate depending on the location and contaminant type. Contamination hotspots are found i) for metals and metalloids, in sites where mining spills have occurred and ii) for nutrients and pesticides, in wetlands that receive discharges from intensive agricultural and shrimp farming. We also identified sites where harmful algal blooms (HABs) have been observed. However, numerous coastal environments in GC, affected by pollution sources and events have yet been poorly studied. More detailed, extensive and comprehensive studies on the pollution levels and trends, transfer and toxic effects are still needed.
In man and Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), the prevalence of anomalies in the origin of the coronary arteries is significantly higher in individuals with bicuspid than with normal aortic ...valves. In hamsters, the incidence of accessory ostia is similar in individuals with normal and anomalous coronary arteries, all of them possessing a normal (tricuspid) aortic valve. In order to evaluate whether or not the presence of bicuspid aortic valves alters the incidence of accessory ostia, 1,050 hearts from hamsters with bicuspid valves were examined. In 594 of them the coronary arteries were normal. The remaining 456 hearts showed coronary artery anomalies characterized by the absence of any artery arising from the left side of the valve. The incidence of accessory ostia was 3.9% in hamsters with normal coronary arteries and 2.2% in those with anomalous coronary patterns. Overall, 3.1% of the accessory ostia were associated with a septal artery and another 0.2% with a conal artery. These data referring to the bicuspid valves were compared with those already published on normal valves. The results of statistical analyses showed that having a bicuspid aortic valve does not alter the incidence of accessory coronary ostia. In the set of tricuspid and bicuspid valves, the incidence of accessory ostia was significantly lower on the left side than on the right side of the valve. This, together with the fact that in the present animal model the coronary anomalies were characterized by the absence of arteries on the left side of the valve, suggests that the embryonic region corresponding to the left side of the aortic valve primordium is particularly associated with preventing the normal development of coronary vessels.
El presente estudio reporta la información normativa y psicométrica del DOT (forma A y B), una medida breve de organización perceptual-visual relevante para la investigación aplicada y la práctica ...clínica. Participó una muestra efectiva de 775 adultos universitarios, de Lima (Perú). La administración del test se hizo en grupo, con instrucciones estandarizadas. Se halló que la confiabilidad test-retest era moderadamente alta; la covariación con una prueba de inteligencia fluida fue pequeña, pero teóricamente consistente. La información clínico-métrica sobre el error de medición y el cambio confiable fue adecuada (mínimo cambio detectable). Las diferencias intra-grupos y entre-grupos (muestra americana) revelaron patrones de resultados esencialmente consistentes, detectándose un efecto de la práctica comparativamente mayor en la muestra peruana. Se discuten las implicaciones de los resultados.
We report the PACS-100um/160um detections of a sample of 42 GALEX-selected and FIR-detected Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z ~ 1 located in the COSMOS field and analyze their ultra-violet (UV) to ...far-infrared (FIR) properties. The detection of these LBGs in the FIR indicates that they have a dust content high enough so that its emission can be directly detected. According to a spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting with stellar population templates to their UV-to-near-IR observed photometry, PACS-detected LBGs tend to be bigger, more massive, dustier, redder in the UV continuum, and UV-brighter than PACS-undetected LBGs. PACS-detected LBGs at z ~ 1 are mostly disk-like galaxies and are located over the green-valley and red sequence of the color-magnitude diagram of galaxies at their redshift. By using their UV and IR emission, we find that PACS-detected LBGs tend to be less dusty and have slightly higher total star-formation rates (SFRs) than other PACS-detected UV-selected galaxies within their same redshift range. As a consequence of the selection effect due to the depth of the FIR observations employed, all our PACS-detected LBGs are LIRGs. However, none of them are in the ULIRG regime, where the FIR observations are complete. The finding of ULIRGs-LBGs at higher redshifts suggests an evolution of the FIR emission of LBGs with cosmic time. In an IRX-\(\beta\) diagram, PACS-detected LBGs at z ~ 1 tend to be located around the relation for local starburst similarly to other UV-selected PACS-detected galaxies at their same redshift. Consequently, the dust-correction factors obtained with their UV continuum slope allow to determine their total SFR, unlike at higher redshifts. However, the dust attenuation derived from UV to NIR SED fitting overestimates the total SFR for most of our PACS-detected LBGs in age-dependent way: the overestimation factor is higher in younger galaxies.
It is now clear that coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) severity is associated with a dysregulated immune response, but the relative contributions of different immune cells is still not fully ...understood. SARS CoV-2 infection triggers marked changes in NK cell populations, but there are contradictory reports as to whether these effector lymphocytes play a protective or pathogenic role in immunity to SARS-CoV-2.
To address this question we have analysed differences in the phenotype and function of NK cells in SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals who developed either very mild, or life-threatening COVID-19 disease.
Although NK cells from patients with severe disease appeared more activated and the frequency of adaptive NK cells was increased, they were less potent mediators of ADCC than NK cells from patients with mild disease. Further analysis of peripheral blood NK cells in these patients revealed that a population of NK cells that had lost expression of the activating receptor NKG2D were a feature of patients with severe disease and this correlated with elevated levels of cell free NKG2D ligands, especially ULBP2 and ULBP3 in the plasma of critically ill patients. In vitro, culture in NKG2DL containing patient sera reduced the ADCC function of healthy donor NK cells and this could be blocked by NKG2DL-specific antibodies.
These observations of reduced NK function in severe disease are consistent with the hypothesis that defects in immune surveillance by NK cells permit higher levels of viral replication, rather than that aberrant NK cell function contributes to immune system dysregulation and immunopathogenicity.
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